You may be surprised to know that there are several efficient ways to heat your home…besides the common gas forced air style furnace.

Radiant In-Floor Heat:  This heating method, which has recently boomed in popularity, can sometimes be 50% more cost effective than a forced air system.  Tubing constructed from plastic and rubber is curved through your sub-floors and piped into your homes boiler. Different living areas are separated into zones and controlled by different thermostats and timers. The heat radiates from the floor upward and warms everything in contact with the floor, most importantly you.  Because radiant heat starts from your feet up, it heats your comfort zone, allowing your thermostat to be set 5-10 degrees below the typical setting in a forced air system. And yet another advantage is that these hydronic systems are a healthier and cleaner form of heating.  Because there is no furnace and vents you don’t have particulates being blown thru the home.

Hydronic Baseboard, Radiator or Wall Panel Heat:  Similar to In-Floor Radiant heat, these hydronic systems utilize much of the same tubing but runs through baseboard or; floor mounted or wall mounted heaters.  The exchange of energy in the room creates a convection current that evenly heats the room.  Like In-Floor heat, these systems are comfortable, quiet and efficient while providing a cost effective alternative to forced air systems.

Snowmelt Systems:  A great addition to your hydronic heating system to avoid shoveling the walk way every time it snows!  Snowmelt systems work in a similar way to In-Floor heating systems.  Tubing is run from your boiler into your walkways and porches.  Snowmelt systems are perfect for keeping the snow and ice off of walk ways, drive ways, around the hot tub or any other high traffic areas where you find yourself shoveling snow time and time again.

Regardless of your heating source, there are Energy Effective alternatives that work with Boilers to reduce your fuel costs!

Solar:  Solar Heating is a clean, renewable and abundant source of energy. Solar collection units such as evacuated tubes mounted on a rooftop absorb the sun’s energy and transmit it as heat to fluid in another collection device.  This device then circulates the fluid to a heating emitter or storage vessel to provide heat to the home.

Geothermal:  This type of heat uses the clean, renewable energy of the earth as its primary heat source.  A geothermal unit is installed which works with a specially designed underground earth loop system to transfer the heat from the warm earth into your home.  In the summer, the process is reversed to deliver cooled air.  The advantages to this environmentally-friendly system are its low-operating costs and its higher operating efficiency.